Jones tunes up at Olympics

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Forgive Jennifer Jones if you hear her humming the strains of Michael Buble's Haven't Met You Yet on the ice in Morris this weekend.

The reigning Canadian champ not only met the Canadian crooner while she was working as a curling reporter during the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, she also spent some time actually teaching him how to throw rocks at the Vancouver Curling Club.

"I got to meet Michael Buble and I got to teach him to do some curling," Jones said. "It was his first time on the ice and he said he liked it. He was pretty good, actually."

You can see the light-hearted video on the Team Jones website. However, there is no video of Buble attempting to teach Jones how to sing.

Jones, of course, was reporting on Olympic curling for Yahoo! Canada.

"It was fun," she said. "It was actually great because I got a good perspective of things from a reporter's point of view.

"Obviously, being an athlete at the Olympics is a lot more fun and what I really wanted to be doing, but it was still an experience of a lifetime."

Jones, of course, failed to earn the right to represent Canada at the Olympic trials in Edmonton and got the call from Yahoo! shortly after she was eliminated. But, after being so up close and personal with the players at the Olympics, she does not hunger to become an Olympian even more than she already had.

"My appetite was whet enough already," said Jones, who will take aim at qualifying for the 2014 Olympics. "But I'm glad I got the opportunity to go and check out the events without having the pressure of competing there."

Jones will now turn her attention towards the women's world curling championship to be held in Swift Current, Sask., March 20-28. Supported by third Cathy Overton-Clapham, second Jill Officer and Dawn Askin, her foursome will warm up for the Worlds at the Dekalb SuperSpiel in Morris this weekend.

"We just want to go throw some rocks," Jones said. "We're not really concerned about the results."

But a couple of teams that Jones will face in Swift Current will also be in Morris, namely China's Bingyu Wang and Switzerland's Binia Feltscher. And yes, that is a different Swiss team than the one that was skipped by Mirjam Ott at the Olympics.

On the men's side, a Chinese national team will compete without skip Wang Fengchun, who was reportedly sent straight home after China finished eighth at the Olympics. Others expected in Morris include defending champion Vic Peters, Mike McEwen, Jason Gunnlaugson and Edmonton's Ted Appelman.

WORLDS-BOUND: Jones is not the only one who recently returned home after being at the Olympics. Lorne and Chris Hamblin, who were coaching in Switzerland the past year, are back in Morris where they are helping to run the SuperSpiel.

"It's been fun, quite exciting, and we're not done yet," Lorne said after coaching Markus Eggler to the bronze medal at the Olympics.

The Hamblins will also be in Swift Current where they will mentor the Swiss women's squad. Lorne, however, will leave midway through so he can coach the Swiss team at the men's world championship in Italy. And it will be a different team than the one that was at the Olympics.

"I thought it was a smart move by the Switzerland association to send two different teams because there are no qualifying points for the 2014 Olympics at these Worlds," he said.

After the men's worlds, Lorne will be off to Chelyabinsk, Russia where both the world senior and Mixed Doubles championships will be held.

COMING UP: The Masters men's provincial championship starts at the Fort Rouge Curling Club on Thursday. Minnedosa's Ray Orr is the defending champ.